Black Keys
by Swiftchanted
Summary: Scott Pickett didn't play piano. It wasn't his thing. He stuck with guitar; it made him feel alive and tougher than he actually was. Because actually, he was a glass heart, wobbling back and forth on a shaking ledge, just waiting for the fall and break.


**Well…this isn't a Starlie! It's Scolla. Haha everyone knows that I ship Starlie and Scohini, but I **_**also **_**ship Nicley…anyways, so this was requested and I've secretly been itching to write a Scolla, but I've had a really tough time trying to find **_**just one song **_**that would suit them since you know I always put a song in all my fics. (And this would be where you almost stop breathing.) This song…god…I cried the first time I heard this! Don't own Black Keys by Jonas Brothers…and with that, enjoy.**

* * *

><p>The rain fell harder and harder as she took a deep breath and carried on walking, listening to the yells from behind her. She was walking away from almost everything she'd ever known, everything she'd held close to her heart, <strong>everything<strong>. She whipped around, her hair plastered to her shoulders. For a moment, she just stared at the face before her, contorted with pain and longing. Part of her wanted to badly reach out and just touch his face one more time, kiss his lips just one more time, but she knew if she did, she wouldn't do what she was about to do. Words of every nature swarmed her mind, but it seemed as though her mouth was glued shut. A tear rolled down her cheek as she turned back around and ran, ran as fast as she could.

_She walks away__  
><em>_The colors fade to gray__  
><em>_And every precious moment's now a waste_

He watched as she ran off, jumping into her car. He wanted so badly to chase after her, to grab her and never let her go, but he couldn't move. He'd completely shut down inside. Things just couldn't be turning out this way, it was impossible. Whatever happened to forever and always? _It's all bullshit. _The lights of her car suddenly lit up as she pulled out, and sped down the road, getting as far away from where she was. And as he watched her leave, the rain seemed to be the only thing he could hear.

_She hits the gas_  
><em>Hoping it would pass<br>__But the red light starts to flash, it's time to wait_

Stella slammed on the breaks as she saw the light turn red in front of her. As the light glowed, mocking her, she let out a wail, bringing her hands to her face as the waterworks began. She sobbed as the light continued to glow red, putting her head on the steering wheel, gripping onto the wheel for dear life. The light changed over and over again, but no one was behind her to yell at her to go for God's sake. Finally, she lifted her head, the light red yet again. _I'm tired of waiting. Waiting is what's gotten me absolutely nowhere. _The light finally turned green, and she sped off, never looking back.

_And the black keys never looked so beautiful__  
><em>_And a perfect rainbow never seemed so dull_

Scott Pickett didn't play piano. It just wasn't his thing. He stuck to guitar. It made him feel alive; made him feel tougher than he actually was. But in reality, he was a glass heart, wobbling back and forth on a shaking ledge, just waiting for the fall and break. All the color had seemed to fade from the world now that she was gone. Rain was still falling outside, and it seemed appropriate to the storm raging on in his heart. He looked over at the piano, a fine layer of dust over it, untouched. Someone had neglected the piano, leaving it alone, just as Stella had done to him. The black keys seemed to entice him, his feelings, the color his heart was bleeding. He sat down on the bench, wiping off the keys with his sleeve. Dust flew up all around him, and as much as he should have coughed he didn't. He wouldn't let one sound escape his lips, because he knew if he did, he'd crack and break into tears. He began to play around on the piano, not even touching the white keys. They mocked him. Mocked the happiness he once had.

_And the light's out, never had this bright a glow__  
><em>_And the black keys are showing me a world I never knew, no_

Stella looked out her window, rain still falling. She didn't know where she was, she didn't want to know where she was, all she wanted to do was stop time. She wanted to so badly rewind time, but damn her determined mind, she stuck with her plans. _I didn't want to leave. But I have to._ The haunting memories that followed her like a shadow were killing her slowly. Eating away at what was left of her broken soul. Which was _why _she had to leave. There were more important things, more offers lying ahead of her, and as much as she loved him, she had to get out of the damn town. No matter if her best friends, her family, or her band still stayed there, life was a moving wave and she couldn't tread water and stay in one place forever. She could hear thunder roll in the distance, but it didn't really matter. Nothing really mattered.  
><em><br>__A world I never knew  
><em>_  
><em>"I like you…I mean, I think I like you…yes, yes I do like you, I mean, I remember sitting there during practice one day, and you were sitting there just strumming your guitar and I thought, _you know, any guy would be lucky to have her as a girlfriend._ And then when you snapped at me to take a picture, that it'd last longer, I almost took you up on that offer, because I suddenly wanted that picture to go everywhere with me, to remind me of…"

"Remind you of what?"

"Remind me how beautiful your smile is…and how lucky I might have been if I'd gotten the gut to ask you out."

"Scott, ever heard of that thing called _don't date your best friend's ex_ rule? It applies in this situation too, you know."

"But I wish it didn't."

_She hates the sun 'cause it proves she's not alone__  
><em>_And the world doesn't revolve around her soul, no_

Stella sat in her car, just looking out the window at the rain that was still falling. It seemed like every memory she wanted to get out of her head flooded her mind like the light coming through the curtains every night she'd sleep over at Sc- no. She wasn't going to think about that anymore. It wasn't going to happen. But it did.

She remembered vaguely what had just happened. She'd roughly shoved the letter in Scott's hand, staring at her feet biting her lip. He'd read over the worn letter, occasionally looking up at her to see the tears welling up in her eyes. He took a deep breath, folded the letter back into the worn folds it had been in, and handed it back to her. "So…you're…you're…"

"I need to get a move on with my life Scott, I'm not going to be seventeen forever. Mesa…I have to leave, start trying to figure out what in the world I want to do with my life." Stella had said, trying to rush all of the words out in one breath. Scott hadn't said anything, and furrowed his eyebrow.

"Then I'll go with you. We'll go together, just you and me," he'd urged gently. Stella shook her head.

"No, I want you to, but you can't! You shouldn't…you couldn't…you really shouldn't try and revolve your life around me Scott, you know I know you turned down that offer to Clive's, and you should have taken it!"

"But I didn't want to go without you, Stella!"

Stella had thrown her hands up in frustration. "Scott, you have to understand that as much as I want to be with you, we can't stay teenagers forever! We have to grow up; this isn't some Disney movie where we can stay young forever! The seasons change, weeks turn into months which turn into years, and we're wasting time! I love you, but…"

One word left Scott's lips as he cradled her face, tears in his own eyes. "Stay."

_But she loves the sky 'cause it validates her pride__  
><em>_Never lets her know when she is wrong_

He remembered the day that they'd sat underneath the big oak tree, his arm around her, her head on her shoulder, and the breeze had seemed to talk for the two of them as the birds chirped on and on. He'd smiled at her, and brushed a strand of hair behind her ear. His lips brushed across her forehead gently, as she blushed. "My sweet little rockstar shouldn't blush, she shouldn't be ashamed that I love her so," he chuckled. Stella rolled her eyes.

"I'm not ashamed…I'm just not used to this," she'd protested, a very unusual girly hint to her voice. This wasn't the Stella the band knew, but his Stella. The Stella he'd grown to fall in love with. The Stella that was hidden to the rest of the world, except for him. He placed another kiss on top of her head, taking in the intoxicating scent of her lavender shampoo. The sun beat down on them through the leaves of the trees, and for a moment in time, they were hidden away in their own corner of the world where no one would find them.

_And the black keys never looked so beautiful__  
><em>_And a perfect rainbow never seemed so dull_

Rainbows were overrated at that point. Rainbows led to pain. He'd called her over and over again, but he'd gotten the same voicemail message again and again- _Hi, you've reached Stella, my phone is clearly out of my reach or I'm off sleeping. So leave a message, and don't call fifty more times afterwards. Determinate!_ Then there was laughter of Olivia and Mo in the background, and Stella had shouted something at them before the voicemail ended. He'd tried the others, but they either had their phones off, or got off topic and accidentally hung up the phone. After he'd gotten Stella's voicemail again, Scott had angrily slammed the phone on the receiver, and watched as one of the picture frames was shaken by the force and toppled off the nightstand, shattering.

_And the light's out, never had this bright a glow__  
><em>_And the black keys are showing me a world I never knew, no_

He picked up the picture, the glass shards still all remaining. It was a picture of him and Stella, when they had been merely teenagers, sitting on a swing. He remembered that, it had been one day after a gig at Dante's and the entire band had gone to the park. Stella and Scott had both fought over the last swing, when Olivia had just suggested that they share the swing. Stella had then plopped on Scott's leg and demanded he start swinging. The band had laughed, one of the many many laughs they'd all shared. He set the picture back on the dresser, looking at the shards in the picture. It looked as though a bullet had been shot at the picture, like the bullet shot at his heart._  
><em>_  
><em>_A world I never knew_

Their first kiss had been extraordinary. It had been every girls dream kiss, in the pouring rain, her legs wrapped around his waist as he held her close to him, the two of them interlocked in nothing but pure passion. He wanted to feel it again. He couldn't let her escape out of his grip. Breaking up with other girls had been easy. It wasn't too much of a heartbreak for him, and when he and Mo severed ties, he would admit that it had hurt for awhile seeing as how she'd been his first serious girlfriend. But Stella hadn't even broken up with him; she'd just sighed and ran off into the darkness, and his heart hurt more than it had ever hurt before. Moments passed by and he stood up, running out of the house into the still pouring rain, off in God knows what direction to find her.

_Yeah, when the walls start closing in__  
><em>_Don't let 'em get inside of your head__  
><em>_Don't let 'em get inside of your head_

Stella sat there in her car, flipping through her phone's image gallery. _Her and Scott at the fair. Her and Scott at their first Christmas as a couple. Her and Scott at Dante's on their first actual public date, her in a yellow sundress and him in a white t-shirt. A picture of the two of them at Scott's, her facing the mirror with him standing behind him and his hands resting over her stomach. Another picture of them, lying in Scott's bed, her in his t-shirt. _She laughed through her tears, more and more memories flooding her mind. The strikes of lightning and thunder didn't seem to bother her as she continued to flip through pictures, rain beating down on the hood of her car._  
><em>_  
><em>_Don't let 'em get inside of your head__  
><em>_Don't let them inside_

Scott ran. That's all he did, was run. He had to find her, before she went to an airport, or over the state border, or over the country border, or over any border really. He just had to find her, tell her what was really on his mind. He was soaked to the bone as he rounded corners, shouting her name as it echoed off the barren streets. _Where was her damn car? Did she really leave? No…she couldn't have…all her stuff was still at her place, some of it at his place, and…god, just stop thinking about it and find her already!_

_'Cause the black keys never looked so beautiful__  
><em>_And a perfect rainbow never seemed so dull_

And then it was like the heavens opened. Not only did more rain tumble down, but he saw her car in a distance. That was her car, where she probably was, where she was probably sitting, just thinking. "Stella," he whispered, his voice growing excited. He then sprinted off down the sidewalk, mumbling to himself. "Stella, Stella, STELLA!" He shouted. She had evidently heard the shout and her head shot up, her eyes rimmed red. His heart began to race as her eyes widened, leaning over to fumble with the lock. But she was too slow, and he was too fast. He'd opened the door and gotten in, slamming the door behind him. For a moment, the two just looked at each other, no words needing to be spoken. _  
><em>_  
><em>_And the light's out, never had this bright a glow__  
><em>_And the black keys are showing me a world I never knew_

"Look Stella, I don't care that you need space, I get that, we all need space, but I don't want to be anywhere you're not. I don't care if I have to rip up my whole life and follow you around the world, I'll do it. We can go to Clive together, we can live our life somewhere else, we don't have to stay in Mesa. We can go to the damn Bermuda Triangle if you want, I don't care where we go, as long as I'm with you. You can tell me you need time, you can tell me you want to go live your life on the other side of the world, you can tell me you want to join the Peace Corps, you can do anything and I won't care. But if you tell me that you don't want me to be by your side, I'll understand, I'll back off because I love you that much."

"Scott, you know I always want you by my side, but I don't want to hold you back from what _you_ want to do in your life."

"Stella, being with you _is _my life; it's all I need in my life for crying out loud! You know that." Scott neared her, leaning over the console that kept the distance between the two of them. His hands caressed her face, and he realized just how close he was to her. He could smell her perfume, he could feel the heat radiating off her skin, he could see every gold fleck in those beautiful brown eyes of hers._  
><em>_  
><em>_Don't let 'em get, don't let 'em get, inside of your head, no__  
><em>_Don't let 'em get inside of your head__  
><em>_Don't let 'em get, don't let 'em get, inside of your head__  
><em>_Don't let 'em get, oh, inside of your head_

"I know," she whispered. She pressed her forehead to his and crashed her lips onto his. It was like nothing the two of them had ever experienced, the both of them still soaking wet, the thunder outside rolling steadily like a hummingbird's heartbeat. His hands entwined themselves in her hair, and she tightened her grip on his neck, pulling him closer to her. It didn't matter where they were in ten minutes, in ten days, in ten months, in ten years. As long as they were side by side through thick and thin, they could go to the moon and back. They didn't need anything except each other.

_Sometimes a fight is better black and white_

"Stella?"

"Yes Scott?"

"Screw staying. Let's leave Mesa."

"When?"

Scott smirked as he wiped a stray tear from her face away with his thumb and carried on in a low husky whisper, so only Stella could barely hear over the rain hammering away on her car. "Tonight."

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><p><strong>Well that was pretty fun to write! I hope that made everyone aww…or made you smile at least! Maybe I'll get around to writing a more lighthearted Scolla one day, but I really hope that this satisfied the Scolla fans out there. This is what…the second, maybe third Scolla out there? And while we're on the sort of topic…Hayley Kiyoko (yes Hayley Kiyoko, the girl who plays Stella) got my fan letterProject Kiyoko and loved it (I think. xD). I will get NO sleep tonight, tomorrow night, and Friday night. It's just that big of a deal my loves. And as Hayley said, BE YOU. :D Keep determinatin' lovelies. Love, Emzy**


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